The E.U.

Is Brexit the beginning of the end for the EU?

Fully updated and revised, this new edition of John R. Gillingham’s swingeing study explains why the European Union is so profoundly unsuited to the modern political economy. In a devastating historical account of political failure, he takes readers back to the union’s postwar origins, when it was considered the best means to guarantee peace, demonstrating how the flaws of the institution date to its origins. Today, these inherent failings leave it unable to deal with the most pressing issues of our time: the refugee crisis, Britain’s exit, the foundering eurozone, and the increasing disquiet among its member states. In a globalised marketplace where technological innovation transcends state boundaries, the EU is no longer fit for purpose. It is time to let the union dissolve.

“A useful corrective to much writing on the EU.”
—Financial Times

“John Gillingham has established himself as one of those very rare commentators who can read European history in three dimensions.”
—Norman Stone, Oxford University

“An excellent, up-to-date history of the EU which overturns many preconceived ideas and challenges the views of Eurofanatics and Eurosceptics alike.”
—Ian Sked, London School of Economics

“John Gillingham is the pre-eminent American historian of the European Union.”
—Charles S. Maier, Harvard University

“At a time when clear thinking about Europe’s political and economic future is urgently needed, John Gillingham has provided a convincing diagnosis of the EU’s present malaise and a challenging set of prescriptions which deserve to be taken seriously by Euro-philes as much as by Euro-sceptics.”
—Sir Geoffrey Owen, London School of Economics

“A historically driven reassessment of the EU’s past aimed at examining missteps, discovering subsequent solutions, and offering a glimpse into a potential future.”
—ChoiceThe author of numerous articles, two edited volumes, and six books, four of them about European integration, John Gillingham is a long-standing but respected critic of the Brussels institutions. Gillingham holds a doctorate in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a fellow at the Harvard Center for European Studies. His work has been translated into several languages. He is the recipient of numerous honours and awards, among them the American Historical Association’s research prize in International History, and is listed in Who’s Who in America.